Establishing Trust in Business

The last couple of years have totally changed our attitudes to the words ‘trust in business‘. Many businesses whom people automatically trusted, have fallen in our estimation. Banks and financial institutions along with the car manufacturing industry proved that their business models were broken and damaged our trust. The Dow Jones index even dropped 8% in 10 minutes during the week and altho it was restored quickly it now leaves a lot of people in uncertainty. After all it could happen again and maybe the next time it could be longer than 1/2hour. This all points to the fact that obviously now there is room and need for change in business.
I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to find out about Karma Kitchen in Berkeley. This is a business based on generosity and is an extremely magical & redemptive experience to participate.

Imagine a restaurant where there are no prices on the menu and where the check reads $0.00 with only this footnote: “Your meal was a gift from someone who came before you. To keep the chain of gifts alive, we invite you to pay it forward for those dine after you.”
That’s Karma Kitchen, a volunteer-driven experiment in generosity.

“We are trying to move away from a transaction-based society to a trust-based society,” said Aparna Kothary, one of the volunteer coordinators and co-founders of the D.C. location. “By removing your expectation when the bill says zero dollars at the end of your meal, a note is attached and we ask you to continue the circle of giving by paying this act of kindness forward for the next person’s meal based on trust. We’re just trying to see what happens.”

Any business can generate a redemptive experience of trust in users by going that extra distance, displaying that they are in it for a win-win not winner takes all. It renews your faith in humans and the possibilities of business.